toki pona enhanced
toki pona enhanced is a dialect of toki pona that employs advances in the science of Lojban applied to toki pona syntax.
Basic sentence structure
Main toki pona words are verbs like
- "soweli" = to be an animal
- "moku" = to eat (something)
soweli li moku
A mouse eats.
The verb before the particle "li" becomes a noun. The verb after "li" remains a verb.
toki pona enhanced also have words that act only as nouns. Those are pronouns:
- "mi" = I
- "sina" = you
- "ona" = he, she, they, it
- "ni" = this
Thus they don't require "li" to separate them from the forthcoming verb:
mi moku
I eat.
Topic and comment
A more common sentence have two parts: topc and comment separated with the particle "la":
soweli li moku la ona kepeken e ijo
When a mouse eats it uses a fork. (literally)
A mouse eats using a fork (actual meaning)
- "kepeken" = to use
"la" is used to express prepositions. In this case the preposition "with" is rephrased in toki pona advanced with the verb.
"la" can also be used to express conditions like "if" and "when". This sentence can also be translated as "If a mouse eats it uses a fork."
Two nouns of a verb
Verb can have more than one noun:
mi moku e ijo
I eat something.
I eat food.
- "moku" = to eat (something)
The second noun is put after the verb and separated with the particle "e".
Questions
The question verb "seme" is used for asking content questions:
seme li moku
Who eats?
Sentences with questions usually have a raising intonation.
Separating sentences
Sentences are separated by lowering the intonation till the end of the sentence and putting an at least short pause after them.
Question sentences are separated by raising the intonation till the end of the sentence and putting an at least short pause after them.
In writing sentence are separated by a dot placed at the end of them.
Differences from toki pona
In toki pons language "moku" can mean both "to eat" and "food". in toki pona enhanced this is avoided. You say
mi moku e ijo. ona li pona
I eat something. It (i.e. food) is good.